.. in the Spiritual Life of a Secular Westerner

Tag Archives: violin

The story of Kyung Wha Chung’s debut with the LSO a year before this recording makes inspiring reading:

Her next big opportunity came in 1970, when Itzhak Perlman could not come to London for his concert with the London Symphony Orchestra (his wife was giving birth to their child), and Chung was asked to step in at the last minute. The orchestra was initially hostile to Chung, whom they considered an “amateur”. The orchestra started playing the Mendelssohn Violin concerto during the rehearsal, although Chung had been told that she would be playing Tchaikovsky for the concert. She nonetheless played the Mendelssohn concerto perfectly, winning the respect of the orchestra. The rehearsal went smoothly afterwards, and the concert was a success.